Richard and Frances Wright were married on Sept. 21, 1934, and recently celebrated their 75th anniversary.

Marcus Larson / News-Register

Richard and Frances pose with their first child, Marlys.

Submitted Photo

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On Sept. 21, 1934, two North Dakota natives, Richard Wright and Frances Knowles, exchanged marriage vows.

Richard was marrying an older woman - by one year. Because he was just 19, state law required his parents to grant their permission.

"My folks thought it was just fine, but we were later told that some busybodies predicted it would never last," Richard said. "In a way, they were right. None of them are still around."

The two grew up on farms 20 miles apart in the east-central section of the state. Attending different schools, they met at a party hosted by mutual friends when she was 17 and he was 16. From there, a three-year courtship ensued.

"We wrote to each other a lot," Frances said. "It only cost two cents to mail a letter in those days.

"We got together as often as we could. One time, Richard came to visit me and stayed for a week."

The Wrights obviously find that particular story quite amusing. It seems he just drove over for the day, but a huge storm hit and they were snowed in.

"We almost ran out of food," he said. "I got to know the whole family pretty well in that time."

The newlyweds were young and the Great Depression was still gaining steam. But they put their noses to the grindstone, found whatever work they could, built a deepening relationship day by day and didn't let very modest means get them down.

"We never wanted for anything," Frances said. "We always had enough to eat and a place to live.

"Everyone we knew was in a similar situation. No one felt they had to be better than anyone else."

Richard worked on his parents' farm for a year, then the couple moved to western North Dakota, where he took a job in an open-pit coal mine. Such mines operated around the clock in those days.

Two years there was enough. One winter, it remained 30 or more degrees below zero for a solid month.

By then, they had their first child, Marlys, born in 1936. So the prospect of returning to work on the Wright family farm didn't look all that bad.

But the infamous Dust Bowl wreaked havoc across the Midwest during the 1930s. And it afflicted the more northerly Great Plains states as well.

In 1939, Frances's parents sold the farm and pulled up stakes.

A visit to a cousin convinced them that the Willamette Valley would be a far better place to farm. So they decided to start a new life in Oregon.

The younger Wrights followed the Knowleses to the Pacific Northwest. They initially settled in northern Marion County, in the vicinity of Woodburn and Gervais.

Ironically, weather conditions in the Great Plains began to steadily improve about the time they left. For the Wrights, however, the die was cast.

They later moved to a government-run labor camp near Whiteson. Richard worked in the fruit orchards there before the war.

A second daughter, JoAnn, arrived in 1941.

Another cousin ran a farm in Montana, where Richard worked the sugar beet harvest, then returned to Oregon.

The Knowleses bought property in 1940 on Lawson Lane in McMinnville, and the Wrights decided to buy an adjacent acre and a half.

"The man who owned the property just wanted out," Frances said. "We paid him $160 at $5 a month."

By then, Pearl Harbor had flung America into the war, and Richard reported to Portland for his induction physical.

"They rejected me," he scoffed. "Back problems.

"I went to work in the shipyards on Swan Island. My father-in-law was there, too."

Every weekday, they car-pooled from McMinnville to Portland.

"There were eight of us riding together in a big Buick limo," he recalled. "We all paid a flat fee to the guy who owned the car."

After the war ended, Richard worked in a brickyard for a time, then drove a fuel truck for A.M. Roberts.

Fredricks Motors, a Dodge-Plymouth dealership in McMinnville, needed help. Richard signed on it 1946 and stayed 31 years.

He learned a number of jobs in the back-end of the business, and ultimately became a skilled body and fender repairman.

Harry Fredricks eventually switched to General Motors. He later bought the J & W Body Shop, and Richard finished his career there in 1981.

Frances worked at Alderman Farms in Dayton. She also worked at the nut processing plant in McMinnville that now houses Walnut City Wineworks.

Not even the arrival of their third child, Michael, born in 1951, prevented her from doing her part to provide family income.

After formally retiring, Richard worked part-time at John McDaniels' fertilizer plant until 1984. At that point, Frances, 71, and Richard, 70, decided to call it quits for good, workwise.

They had purchased property on Old Sheridan Road in 1958, and built a house there. They lived in that house for 58 years before moving to the Villas Retirement Home in 2006.

"The well went bad at the house," Richard said. "We bought the property across the street, dug a well there, pumped water to the house and grew walnuts on the land. I can't recall the year, but it was quite a bit later before we finally got hooked up to city water."

In retirement, the Wrights traveled back to North Dakota at least once a year, usually by car, to visit his mother. She passed away in 1994 at the age of 107.

That added up to a lot of trips.

"I think we've driven every route you can take to get to North Dakota," Frances said. "Up into Canada, across the Midwest, down through California. We've been in every state west of the Mississippi."

Their eldest daughter lives in Fresno. And Frances's brother, Orville, also lived in California for many years.

As a result, they've taken a lot of trips to the Golden State, including visits to Disneyland. Reminding themselves of their chilly roots, they once took an Alaskan cruise as well.

Richard volunteered for many years at the Antique Powerland in Brooks and continues to attend events there. Still a capable driver at 95, he gets there under his own steam.

So what's the secret to reaching their Diamond Anniversary? How did they manage to live together harmoniously enough to celebrate 75 years of wedlock?

"He doesn't like to argue," Frances said.

"We never went to bed mad," Richard said, noting, "Of course, there were times when we didn't get a lot of sleep."